Clover-hulling attachment for threshing-machines.



-Pamnted sept. 2e', laag;

F.' P. SUT-TUN. CLUVER HULLINS 'ATTACHMENT FUR THRESHING HCHlNES.

l .Appnwion md my 2, 189e;

f) V f ipa u v Y UNITED STATES. PATENT QFFICE.

FnsTUs P. SUTTON, OF LOWELL, INDIANA.

CLOVER-HULLING ATTACHMENT FOR THRESHlNG-MACHINES.

SPEGIFICATION-formingpart of Letters Patent No. 633,923, dated September 26, 1899.

` Appnastn nea 'May 2, 189e. .seria no. 679,471.' in@ moana T0 all' wil/0m, it may colt/:mut:

Beit known that I, FEsrUs P. SUTTON, a citizen of the United States;and a resident of Lowell, county ot Lake,`and State of Indian a,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clover-Hulling Attachments for'Threshi11g-Machines, of which the following is a specification, and which are fully illustrated in the accompanying drawings', forming a part thereof.

The object of the invention is toprovide' means to adapt an ordinary grain-threshing machine for the hulling of clover; and'it consists in a novel construction ofthe concave for coperating with the toothed cylinder,

whereby the two operations of threshing for Fig. 3 is a plan View of one of the plates forin-v ing the concave. Fig. i is a detail plan, partly in section "and partly broken away, taken on the line 4 4 of Fig. l; and Fig. 5 is a detail of an element of one of the plates of the concave. l

The cylinder-'case of an ordinary threshingi machine is shown at A, and the toothed cylinder of the machine at B. The feed-table is represented at C, and the tailings-spout for returning the tailings to the feed-table at' D. The casing for theconcave is shown at E and is provided with end pieces or walls ye e, each having a rib along its inner surface and near vits lower edge, as shown at e' c'. All of these parts are' common ingrain-threshing machines either in the form shown or in substantially equivalent forms.

My invention resides in the novel form of the plates F, G, I-I, and' K making up the toothed concave which cooperates with the toothed cylinder B, these several plates being. adapted to enter ythe ways formed between the ribs e c' and the bottom of the case'E, so as to form a lining for this case.

` The plates F, G, H, and K are provided with apertures, as shown at h,'for receiving the teeth M P, these apertures being as nnmerous as desired and the teeth bein g attached in any desired manner-as, for example, by means of screw-threaded Shanks entering the apertures. Across one side of each section, near one otits ends, as shown approximately one-fourth of the length of the entire plate from its end, I' place a rib'or partition O', which should be ot' substantially the same height as the teethM P, the ribs O of the severalsections being correspondingly placed, so that when the sectionsor plates are ad justed to the casing E a continuous rib or partition is formed across the concave.

The teeth P, located upon that side of the rib O which constitutes the shorter portion of the section, are much more numerous than the teeth M upon the longer .portion of the section; butin each case they are so placed vthat the teeth lt of thevcylinder may pass between them.

A hopper for cooperating with the shorter portion of the concave is formed bymeans of a plate Q, whichv may be secnred,as shown at q, to one of the side walls, asc, of the feed table C, the plate Q extending Oblique-ly across the feed-table and terminating at the throat of the threshing-chamber and opposite the end of the rib O. The mouth of the tailings spout is located directly above this hopper.

The rib-pieces O are provided with studbolts or Shanks, the same as the shanhs'of the teeth B, as shown, whereby they are attached to the plates H, and hence the rib maybe adjusted longitudinally as to the concave to adapt the machine to thecharacter of the material being operated upon, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

When threshing-m achine is thus equipped for the huiling of clover, the straw is fed into the longer end of the concave and there threshed-that is to say, the heads are broken from the stems. The teeth M arenumerous enough only to accomplish this result and should not be numerous enough to cause the stems to be broken into small fragments. To this end I prefer to place the teeth M only in lOO lthe material.

of the elevating mechanism always present in a threshing-machine and which I have not deemed it necessary to show to and through the spoilt D and delivered to the hopper, already described, and thence to the shorter portion ofthe concave. The rib O prevents the interminglingof the straw fed to the machine Jfor th reshing and the heads fed to the machine from the tailings-spout. This rib is set sufriciently near the end of the concave so as to cause the machine to he considerably choked by the clover-heads, and the more 4effectually this choking is accomplished without unduly increasing the power necessary to drive the machine the more effectually and efficiently is the hulling operation performed.

I prefer to use smooth teeth both in the concave and the threshing-cylinder, so that the seed will be broken as little as possible, and l depend upon the rubbing or @hating of the seed-pods against each other for the purpose of rubbing out the seed rather than upon the actual abrasion of the pod by the teeth, the action being as nearly as possible the s ame as that of rubbing the clover-heads between the hands. l

The adjustability of the rib permits the adaptation of the machine to the character of If the material has an unusual excess of straw, it is necessary to the proper operation of the device that the threshing end of the cylinder and concave be lengthened and the hulling end contracted in order that there will not be a hulling action in the threshing operation, while in the hulling operation there will be the necessary crowding to insure the essential rubbing action. If, on the other hand, the material has an unusual development of the heads and a comparatively scanty development of the straw, it is important that the rib be so shiftedas to enlarge the hulling end of the cylinder and concave in order that it may have ample capacity to accommodate the unusually large volume of material which must be treated.

By the construction shown I am able at very slight cost to adapt any of the threshing-machines of the type now commonly used Afor the hulling of clover, thereby obviating the necessity ot the employment of an expensive machine for this particular service.

l claim as my inventionl. As an article of manufacture, a concave for threshing-machines, having a transverse rib longitudinally adjustable thereupon, and being provided with teeth on each side of the rib.

2. In a clover-huller, the combination with a toothed rotatable drum, of a toothed concave for cooperating with the drum, and having a circumferentially-disposed dividing-rib longitudinally adjustable as to the concave, the teeth in one section of the concave being so disposed as to break the straw to loosen the heads therefrom, the teeth in the other section being so disposed as to effect the hulling of the seed; means for separating the loosened heads from the straw and means for returning the heads to the hulling end of the concave.

FESTUS P. SUTTON.

Vitnesses:

GEO. W. LAWRENCE, Jr., J oHN ANDERSON. 

